Property, intangible

Popeye vs. Popeyes: the owner of Popeyes “quick service” restaurants, AFC Enterprises, Inc., has filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment asking the court to declare that it, not the Hearst Corporation, owner of the Popeye cartoon character, is the owner of the trademark POPEYES for restaurant services. The dispute exists because AFC Enterprises originally licensed… Continue reading

There are many copyright cases where joint ownership of copyright is raised as a defense. Since a joint owner of a copyright is not an infringer but, at most, has a duty of accounting to the other joint owners, it’s one way to avoid infringement.  Often it’s a last-ditch defensive maneuver, claiming that the commissioning… Continue reading

Here’s a TTAB case that I think presents an interesting procedural question.  The situation: Bello Fitness Ltda, petitioner, is a Brazilian clothing manufacturer.  It owns the BODY UP mark in Brazil and had a relationship with non-party Body Up, LLC to distribute the BODY UP clothing in the U.S. Fernando Homem da Costa Filho was… Continue reading

You may recall a dispute between an individual named Rafael Vergara Hermosilla and Coca-Cola about the ownership of Spanish lyrics Vergara wrote that Coca-Cola used in its World Cup advertising.  First, Vergara filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and Coca-Cola was ordered to provide credit to Vergara. The 11th Circuit affirmed. However, on summary… Continue reading

The Flynt family, of HUSTLER fame, has been embroiled for years in several lawsuits over the ownership of the business and use of the HUSTLER mark. As you might expect for a business based on pornography, the corporate form was ever-changinga “morass” as described by the court—as the family tried to limit its liability, and… Continue reading

I ran across a point about enforceability of a trademark that I don’t recall seeing before, which is that a trademark for which the registration was procured by fraud is unenforceable. The point is made in Firehouse Restaurant Group, Inc. v. Scurmont LLC, a case in which a jury held, and the court affirmed, that… Continue reading

A brief primer on when an employer has standing to bring a claim under Section 256 of the Patent Act, asking that a non-party employee be added as an inventor: you’ll have to show that you will have rights to the patent you would not otherwise have, or, more specifically, that the employee had a… Continue reading

There is only one World Championship Cabbage Chuck (flash and sound warning). It’s hosted by St. Denis Parish in Shiocton, Wisconsin: The question, as one might expect on this blog, is who owns the trademark? The first narrator of the video is registrant Diana Van Straten, who obtained a registration on the Supplemental Register for… Continue reading

You’ll recall that there was a dispute over the ownership of the name of the famous Central Park restaurant “Tavern on the Green.”  The restaurant owner owned two registrations for “Tavern on the Green” marks, one for restaurant services (the “Restaurant Mark” and “Restaurant Registration”) and one for oils and dressings (the “Oil and Dressing… Continue reading

Opposed mark TTAB decision Restifo v. Power Beverages, LLC has, count ’em, seven different trademark ownership theories discussed in it. My kind of case. In 2006 opposer Restifo and trademark applicant Kidd first discussed a business arrangement for making YING YANG VODKA.  Kidd described his method of doing  business this way: [a]s an alcohol beverage,… Continue reading